S.D-REUBEN%KLA.WESLYN@WESLEYAN.BITNET (Doug Reuben) (10/23/87)
In a recent issue of Telecom, I noticed that it was mentioned that
ALL calling cards cost something to use. In MOST cases this is true, yet
I CAN use my AT&T Calling Card and NOT invoke ANY surcharge if I call
at specific times.
If a customer is part of the AT&T "Reach Out America" Program, where
one pays $7.55 an hour for OUT-OF-STATE long distance calls after 10PM, he
can also subscribe to an additional Calling Card Plan. Customers who are
on the "Reach Out America" do NOT pay the 'initial surcharge' when they make
calls under the plan. IE, if I call from Connecticut to San Francisco on
a phone #number WITHOUT the plan, I would pay something like $.25 for the
first minute and $.14 each additional minute. Under the plan, if I make the
same call (after 10 PM weekdays or all day Saturday and all day Sunday except
between 5 and 10 PM) , it would cost 1/60 of $7.55 (the amount you pay
per hour) for the first minute, or about $.12. Each additional minute would
also cost $.12. (60 minutes * $.12 per minute approximately equals $7.55 ).
This saves me a lot in the initial rate, meaning that not only can I talk
longer, but I can make a lot of calls and pay the same rate, without the
initial surcharge.
The Calling Card plan is similar. If you are OUT-OF-STATE, and
you place a Bell System Calling Card call to your home phone (after
10 PM, in the originating time zone), you DO NOT pay the initial surcharge,
usually between $.20 and $.50. So I can call home, as many times as I want,
and NEVER worry about the initial surcharge. (This is really good for people
who live in the West and travel East. They can call, at the low 10PM rates
from the East, and not pay the surcharge for calling back home.) In
any case, the extra Calling Card Plan costs about $2 per month (in addition
to the $7.55 per month for the main plan). This being the case, if one
were in San Francisco, and called to his out-of-state home 6 times, he
would save money. (In CA, there is a $.40 surcharge on Calling Card calls,
so 6 *.40 is $2.40, which under the plan would be a savings of at LEAST
$.40 per month. This of course depends on usage and the rates of calling
card calls where the caller is calling from.)
Also, I think the US Sprint rates for Calling Card calls are higher
than an Bell/AT&T rates. In CT, the Calling Card surcharge is $.25; in
CA, its $.40, in NY its $.47, in Mass its $.40 (I think). I have never
seen a Bell surcharge greater than $.50, so on ANY call, the surcharge
is at least $.05 lower than Sprint, probably more. Moreover, AT&T charges
NOTHING extra for rotary service, while Sprint has the nerve to charge
$1.05 for using a rotary phone when its not YOUR fault that there are no
Touch Tone phones around!.
Finally, it was mentioned that GTE Sprint got rid of the 9-digit
service because kids were "hacking" them too often. Perhaps, but I think
it has VERY LITTLE to do with that and more to do with the fact that they
didn't want a "two-tier" system where older GTE Sprint Customers get
free Fiber Network calls, and US Telecom and newer US Sprint customers
have to pay for it. Since the company is under one name, and they want
to unify billing and customer service (ha!) , it would be difficult to
have BOTH systems. (IE, US Sprint would have to ask "Are you an old GTE
customer, a new US Sprint Customer, or a US Telecom customer?"...pretty
confusing, especially when their records are so out of date that they
don't know whether a customer is from Telecom or GTE Sprint).
If hackers were the problem, why would they assign me a *7*
digit code instead of my *9* digit old travel code? 7 digits are
easier to hack than 9, and although it is not a NATIONAL code
like the 9 digit one used to be, the 7 digit one covers a lot of
ground! Moreover, hackers don't really *cost* Sprint all that much...
They are so far behind in my calls (about a year!) that a few hackers
wont do much more harm. I think they just want to unify the system and
in the process make more money (via travelcard surcharges).
Instead of wasting money, time, and effort on 12 year olds
who really pose no harm to Sprint, why not upgrade their customer
service people so that it is not BUSY *EVERY* time I call, or so
I don't have to be put on hold for 45 minutes! (I'm serious..I timed it!)
Or why can't they take calls off my bill that didn't go through within
a reasonable period of time, lets say 4 months? AT&T can...Southern New
England Tel can, New York Tel, with more customers in NYC than Sprint has
around the country can, why not Sprint? If they want to waste money catching
kids talking on computers, fine. I don't have to pay for that, and that's
why I am totally fed up with them an no longer use them, despite their
fiber optics. If they DO go ahead with their ANI stuff like they are doing
in LA now, where 950-0777 and 950-1033 calls show the originating number,
its not going to catch any more hackers, since you have to find out WHO
is making the call, not just what number it is coming from. This will cost
them even more money, and dig their grave a little deeper. RIP.
Sorry to be so opinionated, but I am just fed up with them!
-Doug
Reuben@Weslyn.Bitnet
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